Jessica English, a 34-year-old homeless mother of four, asks legislators to raise the minimum wage during a House Select Committee on Living Wage Jobs joint hearing with Labor, Workplace and Regulated Industries Committee at the State Office Building in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday, February 27, 2013. "There are not enough hours for me to work a day to afford basic needs", she said through tears. "When am I supposed to have time for my kids?" (Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)

Ben Gerber, with the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, argues against increasing the minimum wage during a House Select Committee on Living Wage Jobs joint hearing with Labor, Workplace and Regulated Industries Committee at the State Office Building in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday, February 27, 2013. (Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)

A religious leader says increasing the minimum wage is simply the moral cost of doing business in Minnesota.

A small-business owner counters that any such legislation might force him to close a store.

A union official says it’s unfair that pay for CEOs is skyrocketing while wages stagnate at the bottom of the income ladder. But a business group responds that increasing the minimum wage will result in suffering for

some of those same lower-wage workers as jobs and hours are cut.

The arguments varied Wednesday, Feb. 27, at a state House committee hearing where legislators are considering an increase to the state’s minimum wage of about 70 percent over the next three years.

The House Labor, Workplace and Regulated Industries Committee is scheduled to vote on the bill Thursday. A bill in the Senate calls for a smaller increase.

The action comes as President Barack Obama has called for an increase in the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

Minnesota’s current minimum wage is $6.15 for large employers and $5.25 for small businesses, although many workers qualify for the federal minimum wage.

Legislation in the House would increase the minimum at large employers to $10.55 by Aug. 1, 2015. Under the bill, smaller businesses would be required to pay a $9 minimum wage by that time.

Between now and then, the minimum wage would undergo a series of increases under a bill presented by Rep. Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley.

Increasing the minimum wage would force employers to cut jobs or decrease workers’ hours, said Benjamin Gerber of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.

And, he added, that would mean fewer chances for younger workers for whom minimum wage jobs are important stepping-stones to higher-paying positions.

“We’re taking away opportunities for young workers,” he testified.

Companies forced to pay higher wages might try passing on those costs to consumers by way of higher prices, testified Paul Radermacher of Radermacher Fresh Markets, a three-store grocery store chain in Scott and LeSeuer counties.

But in the grocery business, Radermacher said, that’s not an option — particularly for small stores competing against national chains that tout low prices. Businesses would be forced to cut labor costs, close stores or reduce capital investment, he said.

“We are under incredible cost pressure from all around us,” he told the committee.

Workers, however, stressed the financial pressure of living on a minimum wage.

Ashley Steele, a 24-year-old graduate of St. Catherine University, testified that she has been unable to find jobs that pay more than the minimum wage, despite her college degree.

Raised in North Minneapolis and now living in Minnetonka, Steele said she waits tables at a restaurant where many employees see their jobs as a way to eke out a living wage with tips — not as stepping stones. Boosting the minimum wage would help those workers, Steele said, while helping young workers with student loans break free of debt.

“My education has locked me in a cycle of student loans and credit card debts,” she testified.

Raising the minimum wage would address imbalances in income distribution, said Jennifer Schaubach, legislative director of the Minnesota AFL-CIO. The last time the wage was increased in Minnesota was 2005, Schaubach testified, while compensation for chief executive officers at U.S. companies grew by 15 percent just in 2011.

“Eroding wages and benefits have devastated many workers and their families,” Schaubach said.

But many minimum wage workers are happy with their jobs because they fit well with their life circumstances, testified Jeff Lindo, vice president of government and regulatory affairs for Thrifty White Pharmacies.

With 50 pharmacies across Minnesota, the company has 46 employees who make less than $7.50 per hour, Lindo said. Nearly all are part-time or temporary workers, he said, adding that some are new hires. Others are students or retirees who can’t or don’t want to work a regular schedule.

“In order to accommodate the special situations of these employees, we need the flexibility to pay a lower salary,” Lindo testified. “Without that flexibility, the job opportunities for many of these individuals would disappear.”

The Rev. Peg Chemberlin of the Minnesota Council of Churches testified that paying a higher minimum wage is “the moral cost of doing business in Minnesota.”

Jessica English, a 34-year-old homeless woman, testified that in 15 years of earning minimum wage, she has struggled to cover her basic needs. Lawmakers should increase the minimum, she said, rather than be concerned with diminished earnings for companies.

“If I continue to work for these wages, there is no end in sight,” said the community college student and single mother of four. “I work. I go to school. When am I supposed to have time for my kids?”

With some exceptions, federal law exempts workers at companies with less than $500,000 in annual revenue from the federal minimum wage. For workers younger than age 20, federal and state laws provide a lower minimum wage — $4.90 in Minnesota — during the first 90 consecutive days of employment.

The inflation-adjusted levels of the U.S. and Minnesota minimum wages have fallen since the 1970s, although relatively little overall change has occurred since the 1980s, according to a 2011 report from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.

About 6 percent of the state’s hourly workers — about 93,000 people — received the effective full minimum wage during the 12-month period ending July 2011, the report said.

Earlier this week, the House committee heard testimony from economists with progressive policy groups that say a minimum wage increase could help the economy and even spur job creation.

In a report distributed Wednesday, an economics professor at St. Cloud State University estimated the increase would cost the jobs of 1,500 to 1,800 teens — about 5 percent of teens working for a minimum wage in Minnesota.

There would be additional job losses among older workers, wrote the professor, King Banaian.

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